Electronic displays have become useful for not only indoor entertainment purposes, but are now being utilized for indoor and outdoor advertising/informational purposes. For example, liquid crystal displays (LCDs), plasma displays, and many other flat panel displays are now being used to display information and advertising materials to consumers in locations outside of their own home or within airports, arenas, stadiums, restaurants/bars, gas station pumps, billboards, and even moving displays on the tops of automobiles or on the sides of trucks.
The rapid development of flat panel displays has allowed users to mount these displays in a variety of locations that were not previously available. Further, the popularity of high definition (HD) television has increased the demand for larger and brighter displays, especially large displays which are capable of producing HD video. The highly competitive field of consumer advertising has also increased the demand for large, attention-grabbing, bright displays. Displays which can provide these features typically contain a number of advanced electronic assemblies, which over time, can fail or degrade in performance. Once these displays are mounted in the user's desired position, replacing any failed electronic assemblies can be a costly and time-consuming process. Further, replacement typically requires a ‘clean room’ environment or further special equipment in order to service the display. Still further, special knowledge and training on the specific technologies at hand is required to trouble-shoot and service these advanced displays.
Exemplary embodiments provide electronic displays which contain electronic assemblies that can be removed, serviced, and/or replaced without having to remove the display from its mounted position. The removable assemblies can be removed through a side of the display housing and may electrically connect to the display using blind mate connectors. N+1 power supplies may be utilized to increase the reliability of the display (where N is the number of power supplies required to run the display).
Embodiments allow a display to be serviced quickly, by minimally-trained personnel while the display remains in its mounted position. The end user may even service the display themselves. Further, a plurality of different display configurations can be sold which are all based on the same display platform. Thus, end users can select the precise components which they desire or even may upgrade original components based on alternative or improved technologies. This may reduce manufacturing costs as display manufacturers may produce only a few base models which can be later adapted to the precise requirements of the end user.
The exemplary embodiments herein disclosed are not intended to be exhaustive or to unnecessarily limit the scope of the embodiments. The exemplary embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain the principles so that others skilled in the art may practice the embodiments. Having shown and described exemplary embodiments, those skilled in the art will realize that many variations and modifications may be made to affect the described invention. Many of those variations and modifications will provide the same result and fall within the spirit of the exemplary embodiments. It is the intention, therefore, to limit the embodiments only as indicated by the scope of the claims.